Sustainability in Obstetrics: Assessing the Reusablity of the Vela® Vacuum Extractor

Design and material selection for lowering the environmental impact of Dutch office buildings: Investigating the impact of clients' initial and future requirements on the final design and material composition of a building's load bearing structure

In order to help the building and construction sector move towards a Circular Economy and lower its environmental impact, a better founded choice regarding the design and selection of building materials for a building’s load bearing structure is required. By investigating different design strategies that focus on optimizing various aspects of...

Sustainability Inspired Materials Selection App for Designers

This graduation thesis presents the results of the design of a sustainability inspired materials selection app for designers. Sustainable design, and in specific ecodesign plays an increasingly important role in society. However, industrial designers, being uniquely suited to take such considerations into account, have difficulty in finding the...

User-material-product interrelationships in attributing meanings

In selecting a material to create an intended product meaning, several factors, such as the material’s sensorial and technical properties, the product in which the material is embodied, and who the user is, may need to be taken into consideration. Each factor consists of a number of aspects (e.g., user covers aspects including gender, expertise,...

Shape, sizing optimization and material selection based on mixed variables and genetic algorithm

In this work, we explore simultaneous designs of materials selection and structural optimization. As the material selection turns out to be a discrete process that finds the optimal distribution of materials over the design domain, it cannot be performed with common gradient-based optimization methods. In this paper, material selection is...

The tactile window; a haptic tool for material selection

This report presents the design of a haptic tool for designers. The tool should aid them in material selection for product experience and fit in an advanced design studio known as the Tangible Virtual Reality environment. The field of haptics and existing haptic devices were studied, as well as the Tangible Virtual Reality environment....

Meanings of Materials

This book is about meanings we attribute to materials of the objects around us. Materials convey meanings: they look traditional, they express luxury, they are associated with factories, or they conjure up one’s childhood. How do materials obtain these meanings? How do they interact with other elements of product design in expressing certain...

Potential of thermally expandable polymers with embedded skeletons for actuator applications

This paper presents an overview of a new type of thermal micro-actuators using thermally expandable polymers with embedded skeletons. Embedding a stiff skeleton enhances the actuation capability of the thermally expandable polymer. Consequently, the skeleton-reinforced polymers feature a large maximum actuation stress (often above 100 MPa) and a...

Selecting materials in product design

This thesis exists of several studies and design steps that resulted in a new material selection technique for user-centred design, which is supported by tools. The tools use examples of materials in products and stimulate the discussions about the user-interaction aspects of those materials desired in a new product. The sensorial properties of...

Materials in products selection: Tools for including user-interaction in materials selection

Products do not only discriminate from other products in functionality, but also in the way they please users. The sensorial properties of materials influence whether a product provides adequate feedback or gives a pleasant emotional experience. Designing a specific userinteraction involves selecting appropriate materials that create that...